Local briefs

July 10, 2013

Mimicking Minot Park District's letterhead in a press release sent to local media outlets, a jokester hoped to warn Minoters away from feeding area wildfowl. With the mildly plausible claim that bread, popcorn and the like commonly given to Canada geese by parkgoers were both throwing the birds' diet off balance and contributing to overpopulation, the release warned that police would issue $100 fines for feeding them beginning Aug. 1. The public is advised that any signs posted or information given to this effect are entirely fraudulent and should be disregarded.

- Dan Rudy

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Falling deaths spur investigation

NEW TOWN Two men died after falling from a radio tower in a rural location about six miles northeast of New Town Monday, according to Mountrail County Sheriff Ken Halvorson.

The 911 call, which came in at 11:30 a.m., reported that Nelson Smith, 42, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Zachary Roberts, 25, Lakeland, Ga., fell while installing structural supports at a point 250 feet up on the 300-foot tower.

Both men were wearing hardhats and safety harnasses and the failure of these safety features is being investigated.

The tower is owned by Mountrail Williams Electric Cooperative and the two men worked for Monarch Towers, of Sarasota, Fla.

Flint McColgan

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Man stripped of firearms at hearing

Daniel Amsden, 45, Des Lacs, had to forfeit two handguns found in a search of his home at his initial appearance Monday afternoon for a Class C felony terrorizing charge stemming from a July 3 incident.

District Judge Douglas L. Mattson also set Amsden's bail at $2,500 cash or corporate surety, prohibited Amsden from contacting the alleged victim, and set a restrainer of 150 feet from the alleged victim's home should Amsden post bail.

A few houses were cleared by Ward County Sheriff's Deputies for fear of a possible stand-off situation that day after Amsden had allegedly threatened his next-door neighbor with a gun.

Flint McColgan

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Guard unit receives alert for possible mobilization

BISMARCK A North Dakota Army National Guard unit has received an alert notification for possible mobilization.

Soldiers of the Bismarck-based Company C, 2nd Battalion, 285th Aviation Regiment, have been notified of their possible mobilization by unit leadership.

If mobilized, nearly 40 soldiers would serve in support of the NATO-led international peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, as part of Kosovo Force in early 2014 for up to one year.

The 2-285th previously deployed in 2009 to Iraq, where the unit's aviators flew more than 750 combat missions totaling more than 6,200 flight hours. Assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, they were responsible for transporting senior officials, soldiers, medical supplies and other cargo in Iraq.

Currently, about 70 members of the North Dakota National Guard are deployed overseas.

Also currently mobilized are 200 soldiers of the Grand Forks-based 1st Battalion, 188th Air Defense Artillery Regiment. The soldiers recently began an air defense mission to protect airspace around Washington, D.C.

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Two men injured in head-on collision near Williston

WILLISTON Two men were injured in a head-on collision on U.S. Highway 2 about 7 miles west of Williston Monday at about 10:15 p.m., according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

James McGuire, 55, Starkweather, was driving west in his 1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara in the eastbound lane when he struck a 2013 Ford Focus driven by Richard McCormick, 30, San Tan Valley, Ariz. McCormick was in the appropriate, eastbound lane while he was driving on that rainy night.

McGuire was cited for driving under the influence and for driving in the wrong direction.

Both men were transported to Mercy Medical Center in Williston before being flown to Trinity Hospital in Minot. Both vehicles sustained "severe front-end damage."